LONDON — Marquise Goodwin was angry and disappointed. Before answering questions Saturday night, he lowered his head and paused.

Eventually his other sport came up, because it always does. Someone wanted to know if he would get a few days off before joining Mack Brown's sprint relay team.

"I don't know," he said. "I didn't get a medal."

It's unlikely Goodwin had to catch the next flight out because he finished 10th in the long jump. But his answer was relevant because of the dual life he's led.

Maybe he needed a few days off from football to medal here.

Or maybe a few years.

As Goodwin waited his turn in the cool air of London, a women's 400-meter heat was just beginning. Among the participants was Sanya Richards-Ross.

She overwhelmed those in her heat, coasting the last 25 meters to set up today's final as the favorite. But at 27, she's put in her time. She's also had her disappointments.

After starring at UT and later becoming the best in the world, she was in Beijing, coming off the curve, thinking gold was hers. That's when her right hamstring grabbed her.

"I never had anything like that happen before," she said then.

She later looked at her bronze medal the way Goodwin looked at being culled early from the field Saturday. She never smiled during the medal ceremony.

It's telling of what these athletes go through, and how much time they put into these moments. Richards-Ross dedicated her life to this until she understood all nuances, and tonight promises to be the culmination of that.

She knows Goodwin, and she knows football. Her husband, famously, is former San Antonio resident Aaron Ross of the Jacksonville Jaguars.